No subject

The Free Geek Community Council (the "Council") shall be organized
from members of the Free Geek community. The function of the Council
is to provide general guidance and vision to Free Geek. This includes
both short term and long term vision and goals. The Council normally
meets on a monthly basis and shall meet to elect members to the Board
at least once per year. The Council shall not have the authority to
act for or on behalf of the Board.

Despite that last line, the Council actually does some things that are
traditionally the job of a board of directors. Importantly, the
Council sets the organization's priorities and long-term goals. The
Board's role is mainly to ensure that the organization's decisions are
financially and legally responsible. Board members are required to
participate in the Council in order to help them perform that role,
and to make sure they stay in touch with what's going on.
--snip--

So according to their Council orientation documentation, Board members
are required to participate.

But, for a more in-depth understanding, I think this is worth reading:
http://wiki.freegeek.org/index.php/Founding_Document_of_the_Council
Specifically, the section titled "Structure of FreeGeek":
http://wiki.freegeek.org/index.php/Founding_Document_of_the_Council#Structure_of_Free_Geek

"The board of directors is responsible for FREE GEEK as a legal and
financial entity, but the board did not grow out of the volunteer
community and does not necessarily reflect the same diversity that the
volunteers do."

The history of FreeGeek Portland is fundamentally different from the
history of FreeGeek Columbus. Our Board specifically arose from the
original volunteer population; and all of the Board members that have
ever served have been volunteers with the organization first. I think
our Board represents the diverse volunteer population pretty well.

It's also important to remember that Portland has paid staff, and that
plays a big factor in their Council. Again, from the Council
orientation page:
"The Council generally tries to stay away from deciding on
implementation issues, which are left to the staff to determine in
line with the directives of the Council. You will find the staff
highly represented at the Council, too, because of the information and
responsibilities they have."

Columbus' lack of paid staff means that all implementation issues rest
in the hands of volunteers. I think this is an important nuance to
keep in mind.

> The whole framing of this discussion has been one of assumed hostility
> ( "We must protect the Community Council from being overridden by the
> Big Bad Board!" The corrallary is that if we don't , the CC will be
> worthless. What about a CC that makes a lot of decisions, and from
> time to time the board makes a motion that overrides the CC, but it is
> done in a cooperative, respectful way? ). I think it portends ill for
> the future of the CC and the relationship between the CC and the
> board, and FGCMH in general.

Good point. Thanks for bringing this up.

Cheers,
Scott